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Dollar buoyed by Chinese data

The Australian dollar received a lift against its US counterpart from encouraging Chinese manufacturing data, and scaled eight-month peaks against the yen on Thursday on expectations of more policy action in Japan.

The Aussie rose to $US1.0390, from $US1.0363 in early trade, having met heavy barriers at $US1.0401 where traders cited solid offers.

The move higher was underpinned by an upbeat reading of China's manufacturing activity with HSBC's China flash Manufacturing PMI for November rising to a 13-month peak. The figure was seen as a further sign of economic recovery in the world's second-largest economy.

That, combined with renewed hopes of a Greek loan deal, helped sentiment and sent shares rallying across Asia.

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"Overall it's an improved risk environment so it (kiwi) has reacted positively, but cautiously" said Westpac senior strategist Imre Speizer.

China is a top trade partner of the Antipodean economies, and their currencies are ultra-sensitive to changes of pace in economic activity there.

But a strong Aussie dollar hurts exports in the non-resource sectors such as manufacturing, education and retail, which creates challenges for the Reserve Bank of Australia.

The Aussie has been trading above parity for most of the last two years, and has gained more than 1 percent this year.

Since November last year, the central bank has lowered its cash rate by a total of 150 basis points, taking it to a three-year low.

"Australian economic data has been soft, while the Aussie dollar has remained firm - the two factors arguing for a December rate cut," said Craig James, chief economist at CommSec.

Financial markets were giving a 61 per cent chance of a 25 basis-point cut to 3 per cent in December.

The dollar exploded higher against the yen, scaling fresh multi-month peaks. The Aussie powered up to 85.78 yen, its strongest since early April, to last fetch 85.69.

Having pierced a heavy zone of barriers just under 85.00 yen, traders said it could test this year's peak of 88.62 set in March.